tropical-fish said:
they had GBR in my lfs today. definitely a fish that i would like to add to my aquarium. still waiting for my tank to cycle so can't get any yet.
Eco23, drip acclimating sounds interesting. how is that done?
Some people have really fancy ways of drip acclimating...I just use what I've already got. You'll just need a piece of air line tubing, a bucket, a large clean pitcher and something to clamp down on the hose with to limit the flow of water. I use a paper clamp, but they also sell $1 valves that are made specifically for drip acclimating.
- I float the bag for 20-30 minutes to match the temps
- Take a large clean pitcher and put it in a bucket next to the tank (bucket is to catch water if it overflows out of the pitcher)
- Pour the fish and the bag water into the pitcher
- Get a syphon going with the airline tube from the tank into the bucket (just suck on it and it comes flowing out)
- Take your clamp or valve and squeeze the air line tube so the water comes out in a slow but steady drip...drip...drip
- Once you've got the drip going just place the tube into the pitcher so it slowly starts adding water in with the fish
- Go find something to do for an hour, lol
- When the pitcher is mostly full, I dump out half of it and repeat the process
- When it fills up again...I net the fish and put him in the tank. The fact you're using a pitcher helps with pouring the fish out and into the net
I've always thought this way is easier and less hassle than bag acclimating and it's obviously the most beneficial way for your fish. Basically you just get it going and it takes care of itself instead of having to deal with a bag floating in the tank and having to keep adding water every 15 minutes. Plus those darn bags never want to stay upright, lol.